As Liverpool midfielder prepares to overtake Kevin Keegan in list of most
frequent England captains, Wayne Rooney questions why it took so long for
him to win armband.

Wayne Rooney believes that Steven Gerrard should have been appointed England captain “earlier”. Gerrard has captained England 31 times in his 105 internationals but only under Roy Hodgson has the midfielder been fully established as first-choice captain.

Gerrard first wore the armband under Sven-Goran Eriksson on March 31, 2004 against Sweden in Gothenburg, his only captaincy in his 45 appearances under Eriksson.

The Swede mainly used David Beckham as captain. Since then John Terry, Rio Ferdinand and Gerrard were the main wearers of the armband. Gerrard was a more frequent captain under Eriksson’s successor, Steve McClaren, wearing it five times in 16 games.

Fabio Capello entrusted Gerrard with the captaincy on nine occasions in the midfielder’s 26 games, including the 2010 World Cup when Ferdinand fell injured and Terry was present but was denied the honour because of off-field indiscretions.

Since the draw with the US on June 12 2010, Gerrard has worn the armband in every game he has started, barring a Euro 2012 qualifier with Montenegro and a friendly with France when Ferdinand led the side under Capello and when Scott Parker captained England against Holland under Stuart Pearce.

Gerrard has been captain in all of his 15 games under Hodgson. “I think he got the captain's armband a bit later than he should have,’’ said Rooney. “I feel he should have been named captain a bit earlier than that. But he is our captain and leader and he is going to be a really important player for us (against Montenegro and Poland).’’

Rooney noted how Gerrard, now 33, has changed as a midfielder. “Steven has been one of the best in the world over the last 15 years,’’ said Rooney. “He has adapted his game a little bit. He is not going forward as much as he used to. But he has certainly got the ability to play a bit deeper and play passes out and drive the team on.

"He’s our captain. We look to him to give us that drive. He does that. It’s great to see. He has been doing it for years.’’

Gerrard’s 32nd captaincy against Montenegro on Friday will see him move clear of Kevin Keegan in the England all-time captaincy list. Next up are Terry and Alan Shearer joint fifth with 34.

Gerrard is highly unlikely to reach the fourth place held by Beckham with 59. Bryan Robson has 65 while Billy Wright and Bobby Moore lead the distinguished field with 90.

If Gerrard continues captaining next season he could challenge the post-war record between first cap and last held by Wright of 10 years and 232 days. On Friday, it will be nine years and 194 days since Gerrard’s first captaincy.

The FA only counts those starting matches as official captains and not those passed the armband when the captain goes off early.